Carnival Jubilee

Billy

Age: 58

Occupation:administrator

Number of Cruises: 3

Cruise Line: Carnival

Ship: Carnival Jubilee

Sailing Date: September 21st, 2002

Itinerary: Western Caribbean

As a customer sailing on the ill fated
9/21 Jubilee cruise out of Galveston, originally
scheduled to call on the ports of Calica and Cozumel, I would
like to report that Carnival Cruise Lines refused to honor the following
policy on 9/20 when the itinerary was changed to Vera Cruz.

If Carnival Cruise Lines ("Carnival") has adequate notice prior to sailing
that a vessel will deviate from the published itinerary, it will promptly
upon making the itinerary change notify passengers of the change through
their travel agents or directly, in the case of a direct booking ("the
Notice"). The Notice shall offer passengers an opportunity to cancel
their booking without penalty within 24 hours of the
delivery of the Notice. Carnival shall not be liable
to guests for any charges, fees or expenses paid or
owed to third parties (such as air travel booked by a guest directly
with an airline) in connection with a cancelled booking or substituted
port. In the event a passenger does not cancel his or
her cruise on a timely basis, no additional
compensation for the itinerary change will be offered
to the passenger at a later time.

I called customer service 2 times on 9/20 requesting to cancel, and was told
that they would not do so. I was not comfortable sailing in the Gulf of
Mexico in the wake of a hurricane, as were many passengers who were
rejected in their request as I was. The Carnival
customer service rep told me that if I did not go on
the 9/21 sailing, then I would loose my $, or that I could
sail, and take them up on their guarantee which states that if you are
not satisfied with the cruise, then you may request to
disembark prior to reaching the first port, and
Carnival will fly you home and make a pro rata refund.
She further stated that Carnival would in no way, put us in harm's
way! I reluctantly boarded the ship, thinking that Carnival knew what
they were doing, and would be able to offer me the
quality cruise that one expects. However, I was still
upset that they would not let me cancel, as their
policy stated.

The ship sailed out of Galveston, with Isidore heading towards the Yucatan
Peninsula, and very likely into the Gulf of Mexico. After the voyage was
into its 3rd hour, the captain announced that the ship was going to turn
around and head not back to Galveston, but to New Orleans. The next 24
hours, were by the account of veteran crewmembers, the roughest seas they
had ever encountered. Most guests on the ship were irate that the ship
did not return to Galveston. Instead, all were left to
endure the "Cruise to HELL". A large percentage of
passengers spent the day with extreme seasickness, as
the boat was lined with barf bags throughout. Certain areas
of the ship reeked from vomit hastily cleaned up by what crew was still
able to work, and approximately half of the passengers
opted to disembark in New Orleans and return to
Houston. I personally was in the Pursers office
moments after the ship tied up at New Orleans and wanted to know when we
could go home. After much confusion, our schedule was delivered to our
cabin. We left the first thing Tuesday morning not knowing how we were to
get from Houston back to Galveston. When we arrived at New Orleans
Airport and showed our voucher for our tickets, we
learned that there had been a mix-up and two of our
party’s tickets had not been paid. Continental said
they would correct this and to go on the gate. After we had been screened
and arrived at the gate, we heard an announcement for all our party to
return to the ticket counter. This means we would have to go back through
security. When we got to the counter, Continental had not been able to
get the mix-up corrected. We were told that we would
have to contact Carnival and see if we could
straighten it out. Off to the payphone. 35 to 40
minutes on hold and still not cleared, the ticket agent motioned us back to
the counter. She had been able to get things cleared, so off we go again
thought security and we get selected for screening. By the time we made
it to the gate our flight was boarding and we barely
made it. When we got to Houston, there was no one
there to tell us how to get to Galveston. I called
Carnival and was told to look for the USA bus counter. After much
confusion we finally boarded a bus and taken to Galveston and dumped in
the parking lot where we had left our vehicles.

This is trip that should NEVER have taken place. Carnival should have
postponed or cancelled and let everyone cancel or re-book for a later
date. When someone books a Caribbean Cruise, they
certainly don’t expect to be taken New Orleans. This
is not a place to take a family that was expecting to
get to swim with the dolphins and snorkel and have fun at the beach.
Carnival should be ashamed of itself for not having the guts to do the
right thing since they claim to be the worlds largest
and best fun ships afloat.